The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for discriminating toner bottle types, stirring toner, and detecting the amount of remaining toner, a toner bottle adapted to fit the apparatus for discriminating toner bottle types, and a toner bottle adapted for the apparatus for stirring toner.
A copying machine using a laser beam performs a copying process in which the surface of a photosensitive drum is negatively charged and exposed to a laser beam on the basis of an image signal, negatively charged toner is attracted to the exposed portion to form a visual image, and this visual image is transferred onto a transfer sheet and fixed on it.
To replenish the copying machine with toner, a toner bottle containing toner and a driving unit for rotating this toner bottle are used.
However, conventional copying machines have the following several problems about a toner bottle.
First, it is impossible to reliably eliminate the use of toner bottles other than genuine products by a simple method.
Second, it is necessary to stir toner in order to prevent inclination and gathering of toner in a toner bottle and thereby stabilize the replenishment. However, stirring of toner cannot be performed by a simple method.
Third, the amount of remaining toner in a toner bottle cannot be detected in real time. Conventionally, the amount of remaining toner is detected by, e.g., the following method. When a developing unit containing toner and a carrier for charging the toner detects a deficiency of the toner amount, it outputs a signal for requesting replenishment of toner from a toner bottle. If the deficiency of the toner amount does not improve although the signal is output three times, empty indication is performed to indicate that the toner bottle is empty.
However, this method cannot detect a toner deficiency in a toner bottle in real time. Hence, in some cases a toner deficiency is suddenly indicated and copying is interrupted during copying a large quantity of sheets. If this is the case, the operation is kept interrupted while the user who has started this large-quantity copying is away from the copying machine.